There is a new unicorn in town, and its name is Airlift. Profit has confirmed that the erstwhile mass transit startup will soon be announcing the $1 billion valuation. This announcement will come with another announcement that the startup has managed to raise another successful round – $350 million (approximately Rs 63 billion) this time. Add the previous $85 million they raised and their funding alone accounts for more than half of what has been raised in total by Pakistan’s startups this year.
As they sit poised to become Pakistan’s first unicorn tech startup that derives the bulk of its value from Pakistan operations, it is worth looking at how Airlift got here. In the past three years, Airlift has been conceived, been launched, raised money, been brought to its knees by Covid-19, been reimagined during the pandemic, has raised a record breaking $85 million in series B funding, and is now on the brink of announcing a billion dollar valuation and a second record breaking series of funding.
This journey has been celebrated, questioned and scrutinized. Back when they raised their initial $85 million in funding and declared a valuation of $275 million, the market was rife with rumours that there was something amiss here. Industry sources were suspicious, and soon enough rumours were abound. The scrutiny could easily have been the result of competitors being alarmed at Airlift’s significant gains which could be detrimental to their own business.
